Squirm

Lil explains that she found out about Dennis’s real activities years earlier when Dennis was away on a mission and a lawyer came to the house with some information about his Aunt Sophie’s will. Through some pointed questions, Lil was able to piece together the whole story. Then, she tracked Dennis on another one of his missions. When she realized that he was stopping poachers, she didn’t interfere. While Lil is angry when she realizes that Dennis took Summer and Billy on a dangerous mission in Florida, she recognizes the need to get everyone out of harm’s way now that Baxter is in town. The group concocts the excuse that Summer’s grandmother is sick on the reservation and needs their help. At the same time, they tell Chrissie and Belinda family that Dennis is being called away on another government mission. While Chrissie is disappointed to leave the golden eagles behind, she makes plans for the Dickens family to depart.

After Chrissie, Belinda, and Billy board their plane, Billy leaves the aircraft, claiming he left a bag in the waiting area. It’s now too late to return, but he texts his mother that he will catch a later flight. Instead, he goes back to Lil’s house. Summer informs him that Dennis has gotten a tip from Daisy that Baxter is hunting a grizzly again at Tom Miner Basin. As the boy states, “I don’t like anything I’m hearing. Baxter didn’t need to trace Dad’s license tag to get his name, because he didn’t need Dad’s name. All he needed was a way to lay a trap” (223). Billy needs to warn his father, but Lil is out on the river. So, he suggests that 14-year-old Summer should drive them to Dennis. She agrees to borrow a car from one of her cousins. 

Summer and Billy take the cousin’s old Subaru and head out of town. When they get to Tom Miner Basin, they get caught in a thunderstorm. Summer confesses that she feels cut off from her Indigenous heritage by living in town but that life on the reservation is depressing. She complains that Billy is a better tracker than she is, even though her upbringing ought to have given her superior tracking skills.

Despite her self-doubt, Summer picks up a trail of footprints that were probably made by Dennis. When the two kids reach a clearing, they use binoculars and notice a flock of buzzards circling above a meadow. “‘I wonder what they’re looking at,’ Summer murmurs uneasily. ‘Whatever it is,’ [Billy] say[s], ‘it’s probably dead.’ Because that’s what buzzards hunt” (234).

Summer and Billy skirt the open meadow to get a closer look at what has attracted the buzzards. On the way, they find a large, staked tarp concealing a small helicopter. Billy concludes that this is how Baxter arrived at the site because there was no car in the parking lot. Billy fiddles with the dials to disable the aircraft. For good measure, he places a live rattlesnake in a pillowcase on the cockpit seat. (He caught the snake earlier, on the way to their destination, because he thought it might come in handy at some point.)

As the two continue on their way, they discover that all of Dennis’s gear has been dumped down a ravine and his satellite phone has been smashed. Nonetheless Billy climbs down and recovers the drone, which is still in its case and operable. He and Summer advance further until their binoculars reveal two objects lying in the open meadow. One is a dead deer, and the other is Dennis. Billy reflects, “So Dad’s alive. That’s the good news. The bad news is we can’t run out there to help him without putting ourselves squarely in Baxter’s view” (240).

Dennis has been bound and gagged. Billy finally realizes that Baxter plans for the grizzly to be drawn to the scent of the deer carcass. The bear will then devour his father, and the poacher will kill the bear. Thinking quickly, Billy takes out the pocketknife that Chin gave him. He places it in a sock and hooks it onto the arm of the drone. Steering the little craft over his father’s body, he has the drone release the knife where Dennis can reach it and cut himself free. At that moment, a mother grizzly approaches the deer with her two cubs. These are the same bears that Billy spotted on his previous visit. He tries using the drone to scare the bears away. After a brief confrontation, the mother bear smashes the drone and heads back toward the deer and Dennis.

Billy and Summer try to shout to distract the bears, but they continue to advance toward Dennis. By this time, Dennis is on his feet and begins waving his arms in slow arcs above his head. Billy realizes that this is a tactic some hikers use to frighten bears. Dennis is trying to make himself look bigger. As Billy observes, “From here he looks like a tall, shaggy capital Y. The momma grizzly has never faced such a peculiar creature, and she’s not sure how to react” (250). At that moment, a shot rings out, frightening the bears away and sending Dennis running into the woods for cover. Unfortunately, another shot hits him in the leg, forcing him to limp. The two kids race back to the ravine to recover Dennis’s gear. They are about to go searching for him in the woods when Baxter arrives and points his rifle at them. Billy says he knows all about Baxter’s illegal poaching. Summer adds that she’s Native American, and killing her would cause the hunter all sorts of problems.

Baxter defends his sport hunting as the thrill of killing something very rare. He says the law will never come after him because he has an entire story prepared and claims that nobody will believe Dennis or the kids since Baxter is a pillar of the community. He also threatens to report Dennis to the game wardens as a poacher. Baxter is about to leave when all three hear a large beast lumbering toward them through the woods. The sounds it emits make them all think it’s another grizzly. Baxter raises his rifle, but Billy is ready with an aerosol can of bear repellant and sprays Baxter in the face with capsaicin. Baxter falls to the ground in agony and drops his gun. The lumbering beast turns out to be Dennis, who removes all the bullets from Baxter’s gun and throws them away, then pulls back Baxter’s hood and asks, “Aren’t you sorry you didn’t take up golf?” (258). 

Summer and Billy rush Dennis to a hospital. One of Baxter’s bullets lodged in his thigh, but he receives treatment quickly, and there are no complications. Both Summer and Billy are questioned by the police about their encounter with the poacher, who has since disappeared. They learn that Baxter never got back into his helicopter because a rattlesnake was in the cockpit.

When Dennis learns about the snake, he puts the pieces together and comments wryly, “I can’t stop wondering how a bag holding a prairie rattlesnake got inside that chopper. […] Isn’t that bizarre?” (265). Billy never admits that he caught the rattler and secured its mouth with dissolving tape. The family later learns from Daisy that Baxter is terrified of snakes, so he must have run away. Daisy also mentions that she’s filing for divorce whenever he does reappear.

The Dickens household returns to normal by August, but Billy is grounded until school starts. One day, a gift package arrives from Montana. Among other items, it includes a newspaper clipping about the still-missing Baxter. Summer has written a note on the story that reads, “Nature always gets the last word!” (270). She also circled the relevant passage that reads:

In addition to the rifle, searchers found a half-smoked cigar in a large mound of bear scat. A female grizzly with two young cubs has been seen in the area. Although Baxter is known to favor the same brand of cigar, authorities say it’s too soon to draw any conclusions from this disturbing discovery (271).

The package also contains heirloom earrings for Belinda and a golden eagle feather for Chrissie. Chrissie is pleased with the gifts and with Dennis’s new family. She says that Lil has far more patience with Dennis than she ever had. Switching to third person, Billy sums up his summer adventure and concludes that he was glad he made the journey to reconnect with his father in Montana.